The ultimate guide to cheaper summer holidays

On a typical summer holiday, waistbands can sometimes get a little snug thanks to one too many ice creams and other indulgences. Yet this year, it’s looking like more people are tightening their belts than loosening them.

Recent research from PwC suggests that nine out of 10 Britons are concerned about the rising cost of living, with 80 per cent planning to rein in spending over the next three months.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. A recent global travel intent survey conducted by Allianz Partners showed that holidaymakers are adapting, with more than three-quarters of Britons still planning a summer holiday. If you’re one of those who are tempted, these are ways to save over the peak weeks…

The best fares are all about the right time and place

While it’s traditional to bolt when schools break up, it can be beneficial to wait. The August bank holiday weekend can be the cheapest time to go abroad during the summer break.

Data from holiday search site Kayak shows that the average cost of a return international flight decreases by more than 50 per cent between 3 and 24 August.

Playing around with the dates you fly can also make a difference. Price comparison site Skyscanner reveals that Tuesday is the cheapest day of the week to fly from London to Faro in August, while for Ibiza, it’s Monday if you’re flying from Leeds or London.

When it comes to destinations, the data crunchers at Kayak have earmarked Spain’s east coast as one of the cheapest beach regions to fly to this summer, with return flights to Valencia, Girona, Barcelona, and Alicante averaging between £122 and £149.

Skyscanner reaffirms this, picking out Castellon de la Plana on the Costa del Azahar, an hour north of Valencia, as one of the most affordable places to fly to this year. You can currently scoop up a direct return flight here, in early August, for just £46 from Manchester and £70 from Stansted, both with Ryanair, without luggage.

The “orange blossom” coast feels authentically Spanish, strung with beach-front restaurants where it’s customary to linger over huge dishes of paella for the afternoon.

In the coastal town of Burriana, you’ll find a palm tree-lined beach, an orange museum and 13th-century church, as well as low-key hotels such as V Pension and Suites with family rooms from €105 (£92) in late August.

Major holiday hotspots in Spain, the Balearics, and the Canary Islands aren’t devoid of flight deals either, especially if you don’t mind going for six days instead of seven.

Wizz Air is offering return flights from Luton to Palma de Mallorca for £71 in August. The low-cost airline also has return flights from Gatwick to Malaga-Costa del Sol for £60 in early August. Ryanair is offering flights from Glasgow Prestwick to Lanzarote for £86 return.

There are also attractive fares still available on Eurostar, which has London to Paris trips for £39 each way throughout August. From Paris Gare de Lyon, the French Riviera is just a comfortable three-and-a-half-hour high-speed train connection away, and return fares are currently available for less than £65 return through Trainline.

Cheap chips, beer and ice cream

Bagging a sub £100 flight means nothing if the food, drinks, and experiences once you reach your destination are expensive, particularly if you’re not going all-inclusive.

Eating out in Croatia’s popular resort towns can be costly, similarly in Greece. However, you can find better value in between. North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Albania are ranked as having some of the lowest restaurant prices in Europe by cost of living website Numbeo.

A main course in a waterfront restaurant on Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia, costs around £10 – in Dubrovnik’s old town, Croatia, it can be upwards of £17, and around £14 in Corfu, Greece.

Meanwhile, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Bulgaria have some of the most favourable grocery costs – good news if you’re self-catering.

EasyJet Holidays is offering seven-night holidays to Hotel Kadmo in Montenegro’s seaside resort of Budva – where a pint of local beer in a bar averages £2.72 and an inexpensive restaurant meal will set you back about £10.80 – from £490pp.

Seven nights at the Aparthotel Royal Sun in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, can be booked from £339pp in August with loveholidays, including Luton flights.

When it comes to cheap packages, Kayak has identified Marseille, Faro and Alicante as some of the most affordable beach destinations for summer, at an average cost of £483, £511, and £513 for a seven-night trip. EasyJet Holidays offers a week’s self-catering in Marseille from £465pp in August, including flights from Gatwick.

TravelSupermarket, meanwhile, found Bourgas in Bulgaria to have the cheapest all-inclusive holiday packages. Jet2Holidays has one-week all-inclusive packages in Sunny Beach, Bourgas, from £745pp in August with flights from Leeds Bradford.

Hit the road for self-drive savings

Driving to Europe will save you the cost of hiring a car if you plan to do more than flop in a resort.
According to travel booking platform Omio, the cheapest ferry routes from the UK this summer are Dover to Calais and Dunkirk, Portsmouth to Caen, and Plymouth to Roscoff. Brittany Ferries has return sailings from Plymouth to the pretty Brittany harbour city from £600 for a family of four with a car in the last week of August – a week’s car hire will cost at least £300 in Roscoff for the same dates.

The best value ferry fares to Spain are on the route from Portsmouth to Santander on the unspoilt coast of Cantabria. At £1.33 a litre, Spain also offers some of the lowest fuel prices on the Continent, making a sail and drive holiday here more attractive.

The cost of petrol needed for a London to Newquay trip would get you an extra 50 miles in Spain, based on the average UK fuel consumption of 36 miles per gallon.

Brittany Ferries has four-night packages in northern Spain for less than £2,000 for a family of four at the end of August, including ferry travel from Portsmouth with a car and hotel accommodation.

Affordable accommodation

When it comes to budget-friendly holiday accommodation, west is not best. Comparing the average cost of a three-star hotel stay across 38 countries in, and close to, Europe this summer, price comparison tool Directo found that Georgia, Armenia, Serbia, Turkey, and Bulgaria offered the lowest rates.

For example, in Sozopol on the southern Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria, a night at the modern, beachfront Olive Villas costs £140 in mid-June, and £223 at the end of August, while the Royal Calisto Hotel has doubles from £123 per night in late August.

On Turkey’s Black Sea coastline – where summer temperatures are milder than on the country’s Mediterranean shores – you can find rooms for £110 in August at the Ceylin Hotel in the pretty seaside town of Amasra.

Of the top five summer destinations visited by Britons, as identified by YouGov, Directo found that Portugal promised the best rates, followed by Greece, Spain, Italy, then France.

Within Portugal, Directo has pinpointed Aveiro, around an hour’s drive or train journey south of Porto, as the best-value city. The Hotel Afonso V here has rooms for £69 in August.

Meanwhile, holiday let and villa booking company, Holidu, revealed that the cheapest self-catering rates were to be found in Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, and Bulgaria.

The two-bed Vrabac 4 apartment, which overlooks the Adriatic Sea in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina, costs from £95 a night with Holidu, and it can accommodate 10 people.

When it comes to the best type of accommodation to book, insight from holiday rental analytics company Key Data suggests that it’s cheaper to go down the self-catering route rather than book a hotel this August, with the price gap most obvious in Greece and Italy.

For example, in Puglia, a night at a beachfront resort in Ostuni can cost as much as €400 for a family room in mid-August, while a one-bedroom self-catering apartment starts from around £170 per night.
Campsites are another affordable option across Europe.

Eurocamp, for example, charges per party rather than per person, which can help keep costs down if you’re travelling as a larger group. Seven nights at the two-bedroom, five-guest, Oasis Palavasienne, with its onsite waterpark, near Montpellier, costs from £568 per party on 22 August.

It’s also worth considering a cruise cabin for your summer accommodation. While the upfront cost may seem off-putting with some lines, the price of a cruise includes food and sometimes even drinks.
Departing Southampton on 16 August, Cunard’s 14-night Sun Kissed Spain sailing costs from £1,640 per person, including all meals, afternoon tea, and theatre shows – working out at just £117 a night.

Holidays at home

Staying in the UK isn’t always cheaper than going abroad, but it can bring savings if you choose your destination wisely. Blackpool – where a new £8.7m Gyro Swing ride has just opened at Pleasure Beach – and Scarborough offer the best accommodation rates for summer 2026, according to Kayak.

The Big Blue Hotel in Blackpool has deluxe family rooms for £216 per night in August. Stays are also affordable in Liverpool and Manchester, from where it’s easy to day trip to coastal destinations such as Formby and Anglesey.

Campsite stays can take the pressure off the purse strings in the UK, and a growing number now offer free activities. Mendip Basecamp in Somerset has six-person bell tents from £85 a night and puts on free weekend activities all summer, such as circus skills workshops and live music.

Brook Meadow in Leicestershire has non-electric camping pitches from £32 and cabins from £110 a night in August and has just launched a new wild swimming experience for 2026. There’s also a barn cinema, dog shows, pond dipping and bee safaris.

Outdoor accommodation website Pitchup.com also recommends Trefach Holiday Park in Pembrokeshire, Jubilee Camping in Hampshire, Panoramic Camping and Glamping in Swansea, and Little Thornham Holidays in Wiltshire as top choices for families based on an analysis of more than 200,000 guest reviews for child friendliness. Trefach has a play area and a pool, while the farm animals at the other sites will offer a distraction for children.

For the peace of mind of knowing your budget won’t run away from you, consider one of the UK’s all-inclusive seaside resorts. The cost of a Potters Resorts holiday in Norfolk, for example, includes full board food, drinks, entertainment, and activities like archery. A three-night summer weekend break at its Hopton-On-Sea site, arriving on 7 August, is £1,997 for two adults and one child aged between three and nine staying in a bungalow.